The Dragon and the RiftMaker
by Gyaku no Sekai
Summary: CRACKFIC, Crossover AU. He was tied to the Hiten Mitsurugi practitioners to control his powers, and though he never said it outright, he considered them to be his jailers - until HE became the Thirteenth Hiko Seijuro. HikoXKen, NC-17-ish later.
1. Prologue: The RiftMaker

Title: The Dragon and the Rift-Maker

Author: Gyaku no Sekai

Fandom: Rurouni Kenshin / InuYasha Crossover

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: violence, blood, gore, intestine-devouring, hardcore yaoi/shonen-ai

Pairings: Hiko x Kenshin main, side: Inuyasha x Sesshomaru, Sango x Miroku, Kouga x Kagome, Saitou x Sano, Aoshi x Misao, possible Enishi x Kaoru

Summary: CRACKFIC, Crossover AU. He was tied to the Hiten Mitsurugi practitioners to control his powers, and though he never said it outright, he considered them to by his jailers - until HE became the Thirteenth Hiko Seijuro. HikoXKen, NC-17-ish later.

A/N: So, um, yeah. Explanation for the crack: so I've had this random idea floating around in my head for a while (don't ask where it came from, I honestly _don't know, _but I guess I can blame reorganizing my manga collection and making the mistake of putting my InuYasha manga next to my RuroKen manga right before I went to bed, creating a crossover-dream), and I made the mistake of telling my (gangsta) "sistah from anothah mothah" (/gangsta), Kireteiru (in the background: "Hells yeah! You go, sis!"), about this insanity.

And then she promptly demanded that I write it up as her b-day present. And post it so she doesn't have to carry around a sheaf of paper a mile high when she wants to read it.

Oh, well. Saves me the trouble of buying her something. However – *shakes fist* - you owe me MCxC pr0n for _my_ birthday, Kire-teme!

* * *

Prologue: The Rift-Maker

* * *

The village had been absolutely and utterly devastated. There was no other word for it; it seemed as if Sou'unga's Gokuryuuha had gone through it at top speed and twice the ordinary level of power, shattering all of the buildings and leaving no survivors. As if the devastation of the village was not enough, the now-dry rice fields around it were in direct contrast to it, utterly untouched, irrigation canals intact, the river beyond having been rerouted by the creature.

Toga, the Inu no Taishou, surveyed the damage from a distance, hardly daring to believe what he was seeing or approach with such an oppressive youki lingering in the area. The Sou'unga thrummed delightedly against his back, but his will was stronger; he forced it to submit again before padding silently down the winding path from the foothills to the village below. As he got closer, he could see what had become of the villagers: every single one – men, women, and children – had been severed in half at the waist with a cut too clean for any blade, no matter how well-forged. The wounds stank of youki, demonic aura, and the majority of their bodies appeared to have been devoured by some kind of "absorption" youkai – there had been one in the village, he could see its corpse, but it had clearly been the first to die.

The dog demon straightened from examining one of the corpses and let his gaze sweep the rest of the village. Now that he was up close, he could see that the buildings had been torn asunder in the same manner that the people had been split in half, the worst of the damage in a path through the center of the village, leaving a carpet of essentially splinters behind. Whatever had done this clearly rivaled him in strength and was not going to stop any time soon.

He walked deeper into the village, sensing the other youkai following him approaching the ruins, along with –

"You understand, now, why I'm calling in the favor you owe me."

The Inu no Taishou did not need to look up to know that Hiko Seijuro I was guiding his horse through the devastation to his side, expertly dismounting and landing with a crunch of broken wood fragments. "Aa," the inu daiyoukai replied, smacking his cheek when Myouga bounded up and tried to suck his blood. "Report."

"Of course, my lord," the flea said from his new perch on his lord's hand, "The scouts have found the creature causing this some thirty miles east of here. He is described as being relatively small with long red hair and red eyes, wearing a tattered black cloak. They've begun calling him 'Kiretsu no Seizousha' after the manner in which he kills."

"'The Rift-Maker,' huh?" Seijuro nudged one of the corpses with his boot, loosely holding the reigns of his warhorse as he walked with the daiyoukai through the remains. "It seems apt enough, but right now we need a way to stop it, not a name for it." He knelt to close the eyes of a six-year-old girl, who still held tight to a heavily-patched and clearly loved doll even in death. "What are our options?"

"Destroying Kiretsu seems unwise; his powers are out of control, right on the surface, and his sudden death may very well cause a backlash of the energy that he was created from, possibly destroying the whole country." Myouga jumped up to perch on his lord's shoulder, sinking down into a cross-legged sitting position on his shoulder guard.

"So a seal, then." The Dog Demon Lord lifted his head as a distant explosion echoed off of the mountains, bringing with it a fresh waft of smoke, and started off in the direction that the noise had come from. "But it is his powers that are causing the problem; containing them would only make the situation worse when the seal broke because it could no longer regulate them."

"A SpillOver Seal, perhaps?" Hiko mounted his horse and guided it to gallop alongside the daiyoukai. "It's an old legend in most parts of Japan, but I was able to find documentation of one actually being performed a thousand years ago. It ties a human to a youkai, and the excess youki from the demon is channeled into the human, being purified by the latent reiki in all humans and usually doing nothing more than replicating the youkai's immortality in the human until the youkai dies. The human just starts to age naturally after that. In the interim, the human can only be cut down in battle."

"You certainly know a lot about this 'SpillOver Seal,' Hiko-kun," Toga said as he rallied his men with a sharp whistle and sent Myouga off to collect all of the miko in the surrounding area to help.

"Yes, well, let's just say that my great-grandfather didn't sire my grandfather until he was almost six hundred."

"Hmm. So this seal really works, does it? Are you volunteering?"

"I never said that." Seijuro gave the inu daiyoukai a look that clearly said, "Are you crazy or something?"

"Then perhaps we'll just have to find some other human to do it, like oh, _Kyouketsuki_…"

"…you're trying to goad me into it, Toga-kun." His face took on an utterly deadpan expression as the two of them arrived on a stretch of cliff overlooking a beautiful valley – with a line of flame and burned forest running partway through it.

"I find myself unable to trust anyone else with this kind of power in their hands. You, at least, will know better than to abuse it, _unlike_ Kyouketsuki." The inu daiyoukai jumped and slid down the cliff face at high speed, pulling Sou'unga out of its sheath and beginning to charge it for the Gokuryuuha. The boy apparently sensed him coming and ceased his slaughter of the villagers to face the threat the daiyoukai posed, long red hair swinging. His eyes were completely red, a youkai – or hanyou – ruled by his powers, dark "demon trails" leading down his face like tear tracks, wearing a tattered black cloak that seemed to be made of mist; the boy flung out both of his clawed hands before the Gokuryuuha – and it vanished, detonating up on one of the mountains ringing the valley. 'A rift… a ripple in space,' Toga thought as he alighted a score of meters away, straightening and lifting Sou'unga into a defensive position, 'This boy… he's creating something like a Meidou to protect himself.' The child's arms dropped, disappearing into the folds of the misty cloak, for a moment simply watching the daiyoukai as if gauging his threat level.

The narrowing of red eyes was all the warning the Inu no Taishou needed, and he leapt back out of the way just as the Meidou-like rift opened where he had been, looking up just in time to see the boy's eyes widen before he vanished, reappearing some thirty meters away right before Hiko landed right where he'd been standing, having tried to use WinterMoon to perform a Ryuutsuisen ~ Zan on him. The holy blade was glowing white, purifying the air even as it passed through it, and Seijuro moved back to stand next to the inu daiyoukai. "I've sent my fastest messenger hawk to my castle for what we need," the swordsman said, "and with orders to gather all of the miko in the shrines around it and bring them here to help with the sealing."

/What's wrong, Inu no taishou?/ the Sou'unga mocked, /It's not like you to hesitate in battle./

'Shut up,' the dog demon growled at the evil spirit in the blade before sending his youki surging, body taking on his true form just in time; he reared up and only got a single fang severed by the boy's Meidou-like attack, but he plunged back down, paws slamming against the earth and breaking it up, forcing the child to jump or be crushed by one of the boulders flung into the air. Seijuro used the cover provided, launching himself from boulder to boulder while in the air, then bringing WinterMoon up in front of him for a Kuzu-Ryuu-Sen. The boy was unable to dodge in time and let out a horrible scream of agony as the holy blade cut into his tainted flesh; he was unable to catch himself in time or open a Gate, resulting in him slamming into the ground with a fresh cry of pain.

The human dodged back, alighting next to the full-size dog demon just as the demon boy rolled onto all fours, panting; the "head" strike of the Kuzu-Ryuu-Sen had missed when the boy had ducked his head at the last minute, but the rest had connected – and the wounds were healing before their eyes, albeit slowly. \Seijuro-san, this boy -!\

"-has a 'regenerator's' flesh inside him, and the purifying effects of WinterMoon are only inhibiting his healing, not stopping it." The swordsman ducked when Toga spun to kick the creature full-on as it leapt at them, and again it was not able to dodge in time, slamming into a cliffside with a gasp of shock and pain before falling to the ground. After a moment, the boy lifted his head and, much to their surprise, gazed around with pained and confused violet eyes – right before his whole body clenched, jaw widening and eyes turning completely red again, nails returning to their claw-state, but this time it was worse; the mist-cloak disappeared as his body began to change, limbs expanding, armor forming, wings bursting from its back, until at last, a dragon perhaps three-quarters the size of the Inu no Taishou stood before them, flinging its head back and letting out a terrible roar that shook the earth.

\This – this thing… it's too strong to be just a ordinary youkai…\

"Then what other option is there?" Hiko Seijuro I shouted, ducking beneath the swipe of the dragon-beast and barely managing to escape being sucked up into the true Meidou its claws opened.

\Absorption youkai - even after death - can be fused together to form a much more powerful being – possibly even one that cannot control his powers.\

Human and youkai both stared for a moment at the monster before them, and Hiko's hand tightened around WinterMoon, filled with new resolve. "Right. Even more of a reason to defeat this thing."

* * *

The battle lasted for almost a full day, with injuries on both sides: Toga got a severe slash down his spine, Seijuro almost lost an arm, but it was the boy who was worst off of all when it ended, pinned to the ground by the holy sword. Immediately, his body convulsed and reverted back to human form faster than even demon eyes could track, and though he was clearly in pain, WinterMoon held his power in check – barely. That was made clear by the fact that the boy's canines and nails were still abnormally long, the sclera of his eyes still bloodred, but the exotic violet irises were there, the "demon trails" leading like tear tracks from his eyes down his face and neck, disappearing below the mist-cloak that was half-dissolving around him.

And he appeared to be in control of himself for the moment, albeit wracked with agony from the purifying sword piercing his demonic flesh.

When Seijuro turned to go find the High Priestess, a soft whimper and a hand on his ankle stopped him; the boy was looking up at him with tear-filled eyes, visibly afraid, and the human knelt next to him, gently stroking the flame-colored locks as he said, "Easy, easy, youngling. We're not going to kill you." The youkai shook his head and refused to relinquish his grip, making Seijuro sigh. "Toga-kun, would you go find the High Priestess of Kotaguni Shrine and bring her over here, please?"

The daiyoukai nodded and moved quickly away, making the boy whine softly and flinch away from the demon before hissing as the holy sword rubbed against his flesh. "Hey, try not to move; it'll only make it worse!"

"Hiko-sama!"

The swordsman looked up; several miko, including the High Priestess, were approaching his position, following the Dog Demon General. Before he was able to stop her, his sister rushed over to him and squeezed him into a tight hug before promptly trying to deck him. "You infernal IDIOT! Do you know how worried Haha-ue and Chichi-ue have been, you ass?"

Hiko ducked her swipes and growled, "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up!" when he heard both 'Kiretsu' and Toga chuckling, the former at least trying to hide it and the latter not even bothering. Finally, his sister Yuki stopped trying to beat him into the ground (not even one of her attacks had connected) and brushed her hair out of her face. "Alright," she said, "what's the plan?"

"A SpillOver Seal, like the one Great-Grandfather Joshiro had."

"Really? And I certainly hope you're the one who volunteered to be tied to the youngling rather than forcing one of your men to do it?" Yuki lifted a fist threateningly, and Seijuro dodged before she could lash out.

"Of course I'll do it!" the swordsman snarled, "Geez, on'na, I'm not so heartless as to force something like this on my men!"

"Ah, there's my asshole of a brother! Alright then, let's get started – um, do we have the spell patterns we need?"

"They're on their way," Seijuro growled, "I sent a messenger hawk to my castle to-"

"_You_ have a _castle_?"

"Don't sound so surprised, nee-chan; I've been busy." The human turned to glare at the inu daiyoukai who was struggling to remain upright as he was wracked with howls of laughter, actually wiping tears from his eyes as he struggled to calm down.

"So much for your 'stoic badass' persona, Hiko-kun," the youkai chuckled, nodding in approval when the young one still pinned by WinterMoon made a noise of assent that was more like a trilling purr.

A screech interrupted the sibling rivalry, a large black hawk gliding towards the knot of people, heavily laden by a box that Seijuro took from its claws before holding out his arm for the great eagle to alight on. The swordsman shifted the bird onto his shoulder and opened the container, briefly flipping through the pages contained within before handing a selection to his sister. "That's everything we'll need right now; the rest is just how to restore the seal if it breaks."

The eagle glided down off of his shoulder to examine the pinned creature with a large red eye, making the boy eye him back warily. Finally, the bird let out a trilling note and moved to nest in the child's hair, making him blink in confusion while the others howled with laughter, and Seijuro let the eagle remain there until the circles for the seal were finished. The miko formed up on the edges of the circles, oe around Seijuro and the other around the boy, charging the circles carved into the soil with their reiki and beginning to tie their souls together.

The swordsman gritted his teeth as the nonhuman's memories and feelings and power flooded him, sensing his own washing over the boy – _the child was barely two weeks old._ He could see the boy's moment of birth – no, moment of _creation_ – _a bunch of shadowy, black clad men were gathered around him, one of them disconnecting a multitude of tubes from his body, saying, "Magnificent, isn't he? He has more than enough power to defeat the Inu no Taishou, but I don't understand why you didn't want him awakened inside Headquarters, Hankou; we're behind schedule because it took so long to move all the equipment."_

_And then the child lost his fragile control over his powers, tearing everything asunder within a good two-mile radius, and everything after that was just a blur of red until he was slammed against the cliff face and now pinned to the ground by the strange white-light-pain-sharp, terrified by the burn of the miko's reiki against his skin and inside his soul as he felt the soul of the strange white-cloaked-prey-scent who had brought him back to himself –_

Seijuro eased himself from the youngling's mind, making his mind relax and letting the SpillOver Seal run its course; he felt it form a kind of soul-cage around them both and force them to bleed over into each other, fusing them at the edges – the boy was whimpering in pain, his young mind being forced to bear the weight of nearly twenty-nine years of memory. The spell was completed soon after, and Seijuro hesitantly eased WinterMoon from the boy's shoulder – the other's youki surged wildly for just a moment, spilling over into him, but the excess was purified by the inherent abilities in all humans, the energy released harmlessly into his limbs. He almost tangibly felt time grind to a sudden halt for him, and he looked at his hands for just a moment, noticing nothing different on the outside. "Excellent work, ladies, gentleman." He nodded to the one priest who had arrived during the battle, and the other male nodded back – right before Seijuro was hit by what felt like a solid boulder. There were wisps of red in front of his eyes, and he realized that the child was hugging him tightly and weeping quietly, trying to contain his happiness at being free from the oppressive red haze of his instincts. "…You're welcome."

* * *

"Ah, so they do fit you!"

"Toga-kun, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that little 'Kiretsu' here is a life-size doll, and you're having a great time playing dress-up," Hiko said bluntly as he watched the dog demon pace around the young youkai, who was now wearing one of the elder's old outfits: a deep navy kimono patterned with cresent moons and matching hakama gathered at the ankles, covered by the typical armor of the era with a black, sleeveless, and trenchcoat-like jacket on top of that. His red hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, giving him a slightly more mature look that was belied by his innocent violet eyes, blinking between the two of them in confusion.

"Eh?" It was the only sound he was able to make; despite having access to Seijuro's speech-memories, he was still only a few weeks old and had not yet learned how to walk properly, despite his rampage through a vast swath of Japan, much less speak at all. "Eh?" He suddenly looked down at his stomach, and both inu daiyoukai and human warlord heard it growl audibly. 'Kiretsu' appeared confused; he had never heard his body make such noises before, so he was understandably perplexed, and Seijuro sighed and got to his feet.

"Come on, then," he said to the young youkai, who trailed after him with an air of curiosity, closely followed by the Inu no Taishou, who was also hoping for some free food while he stayed briefly with the human to help the youkai get settled in. They were in luck; the hunting squad had just come in with several deer and rabbits, and they called greetings to their lord and his daiyoukai friend who occasionally came to visit, unhesitatingly handing over a few of the carcasses for the youkais' consumption. While Kiretsu crunched away on a few large rabbits, Seijuro turned to Toga. "Why couldn't he control his powers on his own?"

"You said that he was created, correct? Not born?" At his nod, the youkai continued, "While we are in the womb, our mothers – human or youkai – regulate our youki for us, and we instinctively mimic that regulation pattern until we are trained to control our youki in our own manner. Because he did not have a mother to do that for him and teach him, he lost control immediately after he was awakened."

"I see…" Hiko twitched suddenly. "You mean to tell me that I'm playing the role of this kid's surrogate mother."

The Inu no Taishou blinked for a minute before toppling over, howling with laughter.

"Dammit, Toga, this isn't funny!"

* * *

I lived out my first hundred and fifty years in that castle with Hiko Seijuro I and his wife and children; the kids loved me because everything they showed me was so new to me, and they could marvel at the fact that I, who looked so much older, had never even seen common things like butterflies or fireflies until they dragged me out to see them. It was Hiko-san's family who taught me everything about the world, with Inu-no-Taishou-sama coming in occasionally to educate me on all things youkai while Hiko-san was out "warlord-ing," and I was happy there – but my presence inevitably caused problems. More specifically, my powers and the way they froze time for Hiko-san. The years passed, his wife, then his children passing away of old age, and I watched as despair set in. Finally, he took an apprentice, taught him the refined version of the Hiten Mitsurugi Style, and, with the passing down of the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki, departed from my life for the last time.

Hiko Seijuro II lasted about thirty years beyond the death of _his_ wife before he, too, perished at the hands of his apprentice, aged almost one hundred and twenty. The Third lasted for one hundred and fifty years, the Fourth only forty, but the Fifth held on for two hundred years before taking an apprentice. The Sixth was one hundred and fifty, Seven two hundred, the Eighth one hundred and seventy-five, the Ninth sixty-seven, the Tenth thirty-three, the Eleventh only ten – the shortest of them all – and the Twelfth lasted twenty-five years; one thousand three hundred years, all told.

I was away, in the Western Lands, when the Twelfth took an apprentice and passed on, taking care of affairs for Toga-sama while he was doing battle against the dragon Ryuukotsutei. I had heard about his – mm, _indiscretion_ – with the human princess called Izayoi, and as I was on good terms with the young heir Sesshoumaru and knew of his disapproval of his father siring a hanyou, I was not surprised in the slightest when his first act as Lord of the Western Lands was to banish both his step-mother and half-brother from the territory. I did not necessarily approve of his actions – family is blood, after all – but it was not my place to comment, so I left after about twenty years and returned to the Twelfth's, now the Thirteenth's castle to meet my new anchor.

* * *

A/N: And that's the end of the prologue. And yes, in the original Japanese, InuYasha's and Sesshoumaru's father's name was given as Toga (at some point - I can't remember where, but it was).

Glossary

Aa: informal yes

daiyoukai: demon lord

Gokuryuuha: lit. "Infernal Dragon Blast," translated into English as "Dragon Twister"

inu: dog

Inu no Taishou: literally, the "Great Dog Demon"

Izayoi: InuYasha's human mother

Kiretsu no Seizousha: literally "the Rift-Maker"

miko: a priestess (the term for "priest" is houshi, right?)

on'na: woman

Sou'unga: a double-edged longsword with an evil spirit from ancient times sealed inside, wielded by Inu no Taishou (featured in InuYasha Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler)

youkai: demon

youki: demonic aura


	2. One: The Thirteenth Dragon

A/N: And the madness continues! Just as a note, I'm taking some creative license with Japan's historical record.

* * *

One: The Thirteenth Dragon

Kiretsu no Seizousha tugged the hood of his cloak down lower over his ostentatious hair as he meandered through the market that had grown up in the village below the castle, occasionally picking up and looking over something that interested him in one of the stalls before putting it back and moving on, listening to the vendors hawking their wares. He could tell that even if the Thirteenth Hiko Seijuro was not aware of who he was or what he was, the swordsman could most certainly sense him; he was reacting to the slightest twitches of Kiretsu's youki as the youkai moved through the village that had grown up around the heavily reinforced walls. 'What kind of man is Twelve-san's successor? As I came back, I heard legends of his prowess on the battlefield – which is to be expected – but I also heard that he treats humans and youkai equally, regardless of what others say.'

The gates to the castle were open, people passing through freely to trade goods to the staff and generals living within, so Kiretsu passed through with a group of women returning from washing clothes in the river that flowed on the plain below the castle. 'Juusandaime-san is becoming restless…'

* * *

Hiko Seijuro XIII had woken up that morning and sensed something big approaching. It had begun as something akin to an itch in the back of his mind, but now it burned like fire, making him restless. He had tried meditating, but the sensation of something powerful drawing near had only intensified as time passed; he settled for standing in the shadows on the second floor of the castle, watching all of those who entered and left through the main gate, trying to find this mysterious presence. Everything seemed normal… the serving women went out in the morning to bathe and wash clothes, traders came in to offer goods and prostitutes to his generals (perverted old men, he snorted to himself), the women came back, a cloaked person with them, a few messenger hawks came, bearing messages from various terri – wait.

The swordsman's head snapped around, searching the crowd for the stranger, finally spotting him walking towards the main entrance to the first floor, and as his gaze locked with the stranger's back, he could feel that _this_ was the one responsible for the _:something-approaches:_ instinct running hot through his blood. He slipped inside and padded through the halls and down the stairs, finally arriving in the receiving room just as one of the servants was about to come up and get him, and the swordsman dismissed her to return to her usual duties, settling across from the demon after examining him carefully. Even though the youkai was not carrying a sword, he was very clearly dangerous; his youki rivaled that of the Inu no Taishou, Sesshoumaru's father, despite the fact that his size made him seem weak. "Who are you?" Seijuro asked, tilting his head warily, keeping a hand on WinterMoon in case it came down to combat.

"I am called Kiretsu no Seizousha."

'The Rift-Maker?' Hiko thought, 'Yes… I remember now…'

"_The final attack is not something to be taken lightly, deshi," the Twelfth said firmly, standing over the young swordsman as he pushed himself to his feet after being tossed into the mud yet again, "It cannot be taught without mastery of all the other moves first, for through the ougi, you will gain true mastery over the Rift-Maker."_

"You… are the source of the practitioners' immortality, aren't you?"

"I am. Hiko Seijuro I tied his soul to mine to help me control my youki; I couldn't do so on my own."

"Where have you been up until now? I never saw you during my apprenticeship, and that was twenty years ago now."

"I was at the Inu no Taishou's palace so that I could learn about my youkai heritage, but after he died saving the life of his newborn son, I stayed behind to help the elder, Sesshoumaru, put all of his father's affairs in order and take over the leadership of the Western Lands. His father ruled for over two thousand years, so there was a lot to go through, and only recently did we finish." The redhead itched one of his ears. "Also, despite the fact that he despises humans, he wanted me to pass along the message that the treaty between Inu no Taishou and Hiko Seijuro I still stands, unless you wish to go to war."

"No, things are fine the way they are." Seijuro relaxed back against a wall, resting WinterMoon against his left shoulder. After a moment of silence, he asked, "What kind of a name is 'Rift-Maker?'"

"The one I was given."

"It's a shitty one…"

Kiretsu's eyebrows shot up at his language, but the first thought that ran through his mind was, 'I like this guy.' Even his youkai instincts seemed to agree. "You're welcome to give me another one, if you like; all of the previous Hiko Seijuros had nicknames for me. Kiretsu no Seizousha is a bit of a mouthful." 'I hope that he won't give me a bad name… I hated it when the past Hiko's gave me names having to do with my destructive behavior at the moment of my birth, but I never dared to say anything.'

"Kenshin."

"Eh?" 'Heart… of the Sword?'

"You don't like it? I can choose another-"

"No, no… I… I _do_ like it… It's just… the other Seijuros have given me a name based on what happened after my birth, so why didn't you?"

"Your tone. When you said, 'the one I was given,' you seemed unhappy - though you hid it well - like you despised being called the Rift-Maker, so I picked something else." Seijuro watched the youkai as various emotions flashed across his face; surprise at the swordsman having noticed, pleasure at his new name - contentment over no longer being bound by his past crimes. "Hm. And am I correct in assuming that the second-floor room, the one that is always sealed, is yours?"

Kenshin gave a soft noise of amusement. "Yes, it's mine." He clambered to his feet and padded up the stairs, Seijuro following close behind. "I have more than a few youkai artifacts contained inside, so I keep it sealed so that they do not fall into the wrong hands." He touched the frame of the door, releasing the seal, and slid it open – revealing a massive bear. "Just a secondary guard," Kenshin assured the human, noticing his hand twitch toward his sword, and with a snap of his fingers, the stuffed bear waddled over to its corner and resumed its place on the stand there. "There are youkai out there – few, true, but enough – who have the power to break my seals, so I needed insurance."

The room seemed ordinary enough, but both of them knew better than to be deceived by appearances; Kenshin watched the human make his way around the space, and even though the swordsman couldn't see them because of the illusions, he could sense the various youkai artifacts around the room, mounted on the walls, hidden in chests, hanging from the ceiling – most especially the invisible katana mounted on the wall over his futon. The sword's name was Kagemaru, forged by Toutousai from some of Kenshin's claws, just like Tessaiga and Tenseiga were forged from Inu no Taishou's fangs. It therefore carried his ability to open "gates" in space – and time, Toga had realized before his death, as well as to alternate planes of existence, leading the Inu no Taishou to believe that he had been created with some of Shishinki's flesh, not just a collage of ordinary youkai; a few of his retainers had confirmed it, as well as the fact that Ryuukotsutei had been conned into donating flesh and a host of other powerful demons with grudges against the Lord of the West.

Kenshin released the illusions copied from the demoness Kaguya, the swordsman flinching back when a kusarigama hanging from the ceiling appeared right in front of him and glaring at the giggling youkai. "I do have kitsune in me, you know," he chuckled, gesturing for Seijuro to sit down wherever he felt comfortable, "I can't help but play tricks."

* * *

The staff at the castle easily acclimated themselves to the permanent presence of the youkai on the grounds, some of the much older servants and generals recognizing him from before the Twelfth's time, but about ten weeks after he returned, the skies darkened over with ominous clouds. Atop the roof of the castle, both Hiko and Kenshin used their abilities to try and see through the clouds and mist brought with it, and the latter glimpsed something headed their direction through the storm. Everyone from the castle was on high alert, especially the samurai guarding it and the human and youkai on the roof, but despite being ready for combat, the demon was meditating easily, his calm and relaxation causing some of the tension in the human next to him to ease. "Whatever it is," he said finally, Hiko turning his head to look at him as he spoke, "it's not very much of a threat; I can see it a little bit clearer now. It's just a child."

"Then it's safe to bring everyone off of the alert?"

"I wouldn't go that far. This storm is an ill omen; perhaps we should keep all eyes on the sky, now?"

"Agreed." Seijuro passed the word along to the rest of the castle and was resuming his place next to the youkai when Kenshin suddenly sat bolt-upright.

"It can't be… What… Why is he all the way out here? I thought his mother…" The demon was suddenly perched on the edge of the roof, leaning in the direction of the creature that was approaching the castle, not caring about the rain that was instantly soaking his form. A moment later he was gone; the human caught a glimpse of him as a blur leaping over the castle walls and streaking away, and Seijuro immediately moved to follow.

Kenshin raced over the ten miles between the castle and the young child making his way towards the thick walls, remembering what he had said to the human princess years ago – _"If you or your son are ever in want for a home, look for the castle of the warlord Hiko Seijuro and tell him that the Rift-Maker sent you. They'll take both of you in, Princess Izayoi, and you need never fear that your son will be persecuted."_ 'Why?' he thought, the rhythmic thudding of his booted feet against the packed dirt pulling his body into a kind of effortless, mile-eating lope, 'Why is he coming now, and where is his mother?' He paused and skidded to a stop ten feet from the child, the young silver-haired hanyou shivering in the heavy rain, wrapped in the very wet Fire-Rat Robe of his father, the rest of his clothes obviously hand-me-downs and far too large. "InuYasha…"

The boy looked up at him, visibly swaying, before his golden eyes slid closed and his body gave out, the full youkai there a moment later to catch him before he hid the muddy ground. The hanyou was hot to the touch and obviously very sick; Kenshin picked him up properly and raced back towards the castle, listening carefully to the half-human's labored breathing as he ran.

"Kenshin!"

The youkai lifted his head; Seijuro skidded to a stop some hundred yards ahead and turned to run back towards the castle, the youkai slowing his pace so that by the time he reached the human, they were going the same speed. "Who's this?" Seijuro asked, gesturing to the silver-haired child in the full demon's arms.

"The younger son of Toga-sama."

"Toga… the Inu no Taishou?"

"Aa." The guards pulled the gates open just enough for them to slip through before they banged shut again, Kenshin already striding swiftly inside, heading for the private onsen at the back of the castle. "He's only a hanyou, though, and so shares humans' penchant for getting sick when they spend too long in the cold and the wet." He knelt and stripped the child of his wet clothes before placing him in the hot water and laying out the Fire-Rat Robe, kosode, obi, hakama, and underwear out on the hot rocks so that they would dry faster; Seijuro watched him leave and then come back with a medicinal drink that he helped the child gulp down before the full youkai sank down next to him, occasionally wiping the hanyou's forehead with a cool cloth to remove the sweat forming there. Sensing the human's question, Kenshin said quietly, "I owe it to his father, who sealed me instead of destroying me as he very well could have."

Hiko sat down next to him, resting WinterMoon against his left shoulder and occasionally getting up to refresh the cool water that the full youkai was using to mop the hanyou's forehead, taking InuYasha's clothes out to be dried properly rather than heated and half-dried in the sauna-like conditions of the private bathhouse; he changed out of his armor the first time he went out, instead donning a comfortable and worn kosode and pair of hakama and bringing the same in for Kenshin to change into.

InuYasha's fever broke within six hours, and Seijuro had him moved into one of the guest rooms close to Kenshin's so that the youkai could keep an eye – and ear – on him before the human swordsman followed the demon back to his room, sitting down against one wall and leaning his sword against his left shoulder. "Tell me about him," Hiko said as he watched the youkai prepare for bed, "You seem surprised to see him. Why?"

"I was surprised to see him, yes, but even more so to see him _alone._ Though his father died the night he was born, he still has – had – some family: his mother and half-brother. So far as I knew, Izayoi-hime was still alive and living with some distant relatives, but she _was_ almost twenty when she gave birth to InuYasha. I forgot that forty was pushing it for a human, especially nowadays." He sighed heavily. "I suppose his presence here means that she is dead, and so the 'relatives' cast him out. Back when the Twelfth was alive, I got his permission to tell her to come here if she ever needed a home; she must have sent InuYasha this way before she died."

"He's had a very unhappy first few years of life, then." Hiko's tone held veiled sympathy that the youkai picked up on.

"Indeed." Kenshin sank down onto his futon, sitting cross-legged on the bed. "That is the misfortune that befalls hanyou everywhere: they are a little of both worlds and so are accepted by neither."

"For a full-blooded youkai, you don't seem to be that way," the swordsman observed, quirking an eyebrow.

"Neither are you," the demon pointed out, "You haven't thrown him out yet."

"I've been taught to reserve judgment."

Kenshin pointedly raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly, a faint hint of a smile playing on his lips.

"I see. And who was it that ingrained that into the two of us? The First or the Inu no Taishou?"

The nonhuman let out a soft snort. "_Both_ of them. Their alliance wouldn't have lasted this long if neither of them could look past what their societies' views were."

"Sou ka…"

* * *

The young hanyou was awake the next morning when Kenshin slipped in to check on him, but the boy didn't even notice him until he mopped his slightly sweaty brow with a cool cloth. The half dog demon jerked away reflexively, but after a moment, he recognized the youkai above him from the vague descriptions his mother had given him, namely the brilliant red-orange hair and the exotic violet eyes. "Good morning, InuYasha," Kenshin said gently, "Would you like some breakfast?"

He nodded eagerly as Kenshin leaned back to let him sit up, and the full youkai helped the slightly weak boy get dressed before leading him downstairs to the dining hall, where Seijuro was speaking with one of his generals as a few of the servants laid breakfast out on the low table. The human turned to look at them when Kenshin gave him a gentle nudge with his youki; "Ah, good morning, Kenshin, InuYasha. I apologize, but I can't join you for breakfast; a bandit troop is getting to close for comfort to a village about a quarter-day's ride east of here, so we're going to help." He pointedly stared at Kenshin. "Don't burn down the castle, and don't send anyone to the Underworld, no matter how much they irritate you. And no rampaging, please."

The youkai groaned in an overly dramatic manner. "Goddammit. Fine; I won't… do any of that." He waved in a general manner before gesturing for the quietly chuckling InuYasha to sit down. "If you really are hungry, don't bother with manners," he told the hanyou, reaching out and picking up a rolled omelet, "I don't mind, but I would advise not eating too much before-"

Almost immediately, the inu hanyou was wolfing down rice and miso, and Kenshin said, "Easy, easy! Don't eat too fast; you'll make yourself sick all over again!" InuYasha obligingly slowed down, but it was clear that he hadn't had a decent meal in quite a while – or ever. All of the food seemed to positively amaze the young hanyou, as well as the fact that the servants would come in, help themselves to what was prepared, and head back out again to begin their day's work. "We're a pretty relaxed and informal bunch," the full-youkai explained, noting the hanyou's gaze turning to the servants, "Neither Seijuro nor I mind, and it makes them more loyal, too, because they know they've got it good here." He greeted a group of women who had come in, and the moment they saw him, all of them were fawning over InuYasha, making him blush.

"I love your ears," Kouri told him sincerely even as her twin, Rouri, crowed, "Oh, what I wouldn't give to have eyes like yours! Like little suns!" They were full humans, unlike their best friend who warily eyed the inu; Shizuka was an exiled neko youkai, and the inu were usually their mortal enemies, but she declared him to be "all right" when he greeted her shyly. Kenshin watched him interact with the servants throughout the day, the hanyou occasionally moving to help them at their work, while the full-blood attended to all of the necessary administration affairs while Sejuro was away dealing with the bandits; said swordsman reappeared shortly before sunset, all of the men that he'd taken with him guiding their own horses in after him, and though some were bloodied up, all were alive.

"How bad was it?" Kenshin asked, passing the human a bottle of sake while InuYasha munched on some gyoza dumplings.

"Not as bad as we expected, but still nasty; they had a lesser youkai as a leader, and it took me a bit to kill him." Seijuro accepted the bottle gratefully and took a swig straight from it, making the youkai roll his eyes and shake his head.

"So they're safe for now?"

"For now, yes. Who knows what it'll be in a week – witches, more lesser youkai, trolls?"

"Trolls exist," the youkai said firmly, waving his chopsticks at the swordsman and catching InuYasha's attention, "They steal your tabi, but only the left ones." Seijuro snorted at that, InuYasha covering his mouth to muffle his laughter, but the human didn't comment, instead picking up his own chopsticks and bowl of rice and beginning to eat as he watched the evening fog roll in through the open shoji, the silence only disturbed by the servants and guards calling to one another across the castle.


	3. Two: Expect the Unexpected

A/N: Sorry for the slowness; been playing Voltorb Flip and getting tortured into writing another massive fanfic. A boring chapter, by the way; setting up things for other things.

* * *

Two: Expect the Unexpected

* * *

"You're _WHAT?_!"

"I'm well past maturity in human terms, Ken-nii; I think it's time a stopped imposing upon you and Hiko-san and headed out into the world."

"You've come a long way in the past twenty years, but you're still a kid youkai-wise, gaki."

"_Hiko-san…"_

Kenshin sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his bloodred hair, unintentionally disturbing the braid that the now-thirty-five-year-old Kouri and Rouri were trying to put his hair in and making them snarl at him to _stay still_ while they started all over again; the two brunettes had been fascinated by the strange color ever since he'd returned and took every opportunity to play with it. "Are you sure, InuYasha? You don't have to go if you think you are not ready; your father asked us to take care of you, so it's no trouble."

The forty-year-old hanyou nodded in understanding. "All the same, Ken-nii, there are some things that I cannot learn here, that I must go out into the world to learn."

"Impressive words of wisdom from a youkai-gaki."

"Hiko-san!" the hanyou whined plaintively, making the swordsman throw back his head and laugh at the other's expense.

"Fine, fine," he said, laughter winding down to an easy chuckle as he waved a hand, "Be gone, then. Have a good time, and if you get yourself killed, I will personally drag you back from the afterlife so I can beat you into the ground."

"And take this," Kenshin added, pulling a massive daikon radish seemingly out of nowhere, "Eat a bite the day before every new moon; you won't smell anything by the time the change happens, but I've enchanted it so that when your body digests it, it will put out an absolutely foul stench that's guaranteed to keep demons away. Come back if you need another."

"Thank-you?" InuYasha said, accepting the radish and taking a hesitant sniff; there was no maleficent aura or odor around it, but he took the youkai's word for it, putting the radish in the small pack by his feet before heaving it up onto one shoulder, nodding to the youkai and humans seeing him off at the gate. Rouri and Kouri waved briefly, still focused on braiding the "collage" youkai's flaxen strands, and Shizuka dipped her head to him, the hanyou returning the gesture as he turned to go.

"You'd better write us!" Kenshin shouted after him, earning another snarl from the twins taming his crimson locks when he disturbed their actions, making Seijuro snort with laughter as he turned to head inside. The youkai waited until the hanyou had disappeared into the distance before following his human in, absently itching a pointed ear as he pondered. InuYasha was young, yes, only forty years old, but he had the blood of the Inu no Taishou flowing through his veins; there was a very slim chance that he would run across a youkai too powerful for him to defeat – slim, extremely slim, but still possible. He sighed; there was no point in agonizing over it now. Everyone at the castle had given the hanyou the best education they had to offer in everything they had available, so he was as prepared as they could make him for what awaited out in the world at large.

"Are you worrying about him already?"

The "collage" youkai blinked sharply, realizing that he had already made it to the gathering room where he and Seijuro usually sat until they could fight their weariness no longer, the former playing some form of game with the now-departed hanyou while the latter had a nightcap (or several). The swordsman was resting against one wall, WinterMoon against his shoulder, saucer in hand, and Kenshin sank down next to him. "I can't help but worry," the demon replied, "Toga-sama will do terrible things to me in the Afterlife if his youngest son dies because of something stupid."

Seijuro snorted into his sake. "I highly doubt that. I may never have met him, but he wouldn't have lasted as long as he had as Ruler of the West if he decapitated people for others' mistakes."

"Hm." The youkai stared at the crackling flames of the fire someone had lit in the grate for them, the heat and warm glow making his eyelids droop in weariness; it had been a long day. On top of InuYasha announcing his intention to embark on a journey to parts unknown, a flock of tori youkai had decided that today was a fan-tucking-fastic day to attack the castle and terrorize the civilians within the walls and in the village below, and both swordsman and youkai had been forced to spend pretty much the whole day up on the walls with the archers, shooting down any of the beasts that had gotten to close. And then there were the wolf demons who followed the scent of the bodies, looking for a free meal…

Kenshin didn't even realize that he had nodded off, but his soul-anchor did when the youkai slumped against his side and yawned in his sleep, shifting closer to the nearest source of warmth, which was the human. He definitely had some neko in him, too; Hiko could feel the vibrations from the other's faint purring through his arm, making a slight smile of exasperation twitch his lips as he sighed, finishing off his sake before picking the demon up and carrying him to his room.

* * *

The redhead was still in bed at sunrise the next morning, which was unusual enough that Seijuro took notice; ordinarily if the human slept in too much, Kenshin would summon one of his familiars and sic it on him to wake him up, which was why he was severely alarmed when Kouri and Rouri had to wake him up. Kenshin was still asleep, slumped over on his futon, ass in the air, which made Seijuro snort into his hand before he planted a foot against the youkai's hip and tipped him over – Kenshin woke instantly, flailing as he got tangled up in his sheets, though he settled and glared at the human in the doorway when he heard the human's heavily muffled laughter. "Jackass," he hissed, successfully prying himself from the mess he'd made of his futon last night.

"Lazy ass," Hiko shot back, "It's almost nine, and you're still in bed."

"What!" Instantly, the "collage" youkai was racing around his room, gathering up all of his clothes and armor for the day (kami only knows why he insisted on wearing formal youkai battle gear _every day_, but then again Seijuro couldn't talk; he did the same thing) and bolting for the private bathhouse, trying to evade prying eyes. The black-haired swordsman rolled his eyes and headed downstairs – where an unexpected guest was waiting.

"Lord Sesshoumaru," he greeted coolly, bowing slightly at the waist to the present Lord of the Western Lands; he may have been a master of the Hiten Mitsurugi style and of shinsoku and wielder of the holy sword WinterMoon, but even he could only hold out for so long against a full youkai.

"Hiko Seijuro the Thirteenth," the youkai replied, equally formal; Hiko may not be able to kill him, but he could cause some serious damage. "I understand that up until recently you have been offering sanctuary to the half-breed?"

"At the request of your late father, yes. He asked the practitioners to protect Lady Izayoi - and InuYasha - if they came here some fifty years ago." The human kept his eyes on the demon, the receiving hall they were still practically crackling with tension and utterly empty of servants who did not want to get caught in the crossfire if a fight broke out.

Kenshin sensed the collision and glided in scant moments later, fully dressed, not a hair out of place. "Lord Sesshoumaru." He nodded to the younger and moved to stand on Seijuro's right, Kagemaru on his hip; he almost never carried the blade around unless it was an emergency or an extended stay away from the castle. Sesshoumaru relaxed his stance slightly, signaling that he meant no harm, and the human hesitantly did the same, taking his hand off the WinterMoon's sheathe.

"My father asked you to look after them?"

"Yes," Kenshin inserted smoothly, "He was under the impression that both of them would be extremely important in the future, and we saw no reason to deny him; he had done so much for us, so if this was the manner in which he wanted us to repay him..." He made a vague gesture as if to repeat his earlier statement. "Why? Is there a problem?" His voice held a subtle promise of violence if there was.

Sesshoumaru hmmed, then turned to go. "No. There is no problem." He left shortly afterwards, making both human and youkai sigh in relief over the fact that the body count had remained at zero; the new Lord of the West was well known for his tolerance – or, rather, the lack thereof – with regards to humans and his utter loathing of the perceived-as-lesser species.

Seijuro waited until he was will out of _ki_-sense-range before rounding on Kenshin. "Is he why you were freaking out this morning? Did he tell you he was coming?"

"No," the demon replied bluntly, "If I had known, I would have told you. You know that."

"It was worth a shot. But why'd he drop in now?" Seijuro asked, the youkai following him further into the castle.

"Perhaps his spies passed on word that InuYasha had departed? It is very likely that, had he come while InuYasha was still here, there would have been a nasty fight." Kenshin settled across the table from the swordsman as they prepared to eat their late breakfast, picking up his chopsticks and bowl of rice. "I was under the impression that he intended to quote-unquote 'kill InuYasha himself in order to clear his half-breed slur on their father's good name,' and as he was our ward…"

"Hm. True." Seijuro looked thoughtful. "How bad do you think the collateral damage would have been?"

"It depends on how far we would have been willing to go to protect InuYasha and how much he would have participated. Anything from a minor scuffle with just aesthetic damage to something that would have leveled the castle and village." Kenshin poked at his rice with his chopsticks, thinking back to the hanyou's departure. He had seemed to have something he wanted to do, something on his mind, and it made the full blood wary. He hoped that whatever it was, it wasn't life threatening.

Neither of them really taste the food they ate, too deep in thought to be conscious of the flavors on their tongues; something was coming, happening, and it was unsettling them both.

What was going on?

* * *

Up next: Crack in the Seal


	4. Three: Crack in the Seal

Three: Crack in the Seal

* * *

The day dawned like any other, sunlight spilling over the mountains and bringing the birds out of their nests to herald the new day. Kenshin had watched from the roof of the palace as the horizon had turned that pre-dawn gray, then shot through with color before the curve of the sun appeared and flooded the country with light. Bit by bit, the wind picked up as the air began to heat until regular gusts were coming down off of the mountain the castle was set into, whipping his clothes around his slight form.

Something was wrong.

InuYasha had written them regularly in the past hundred or so years, as the full blood had requested, and they had written back whenever possible. However, his most recent letter was scheduled to have arrived a good four weeks ago, and Kenshin was beginning to worry. Hiko was, too; he was just less obvious about it, but they had decided that they were going to look for the hanyou. One of Hiko's generals was taking temporary command of the castle, a fun-loving and relaxed man by the name of Chiriku who took defense of their home very seriously, while they set out on their journey. Human and youkai had packed the previous evening, intending to head to the village from which InuYasha had sent them his last letter; apparently he had found a human woman that he'd liked there and decided to stay with her for a bit before moving on again.

Kenshin tugged restlessly on one of his flame-colored locks. Half-demons were not widely accepted anywhere; could the villagers have attacked him and the woman because of that?

"Kenshin."

The youkai turned his head slightly, just enough to be perceptible to the human's weaker eyes, and a moment later Hiko alighted on the battlements next to him. The swordsman straightened and held out Kagemaru to the nonhuman, saying, "Just in case there's trouble." He nodded, accepted the sheathed blade and slid it home in his obi, hoping that it would not come to that; Hiko mirrored his thought through their soul tie.

The sun was fully above the horizon, now, indicating that it was time for them to depart. The twin grandsons of Kouri, Kouryu and Kinryu, had come to see them off and were standing in the courtyard below; both the human and his demonic counterpart dropped down to say their goodbyes before leaping over the wall enclosing the castle and sprinting in the direction of the village where InuYasha was last seen.

The journey took them a little over four days to accommodate the brief rests and meals both required; though Kenshin could have run all through the night without stopping, Hiko could not, for all his training. Despite all of the years he had spent tied to the youkai, he was still human, his body still weaker than his spirit though he could take on an army and come out victorious; so he had to let his body recover. His youkai companion stood guard while he slept each night, watching the moon and stars travel across the dark sky, until finally they arrived at the edge of the village where InuYasha had been living.

The inu hanyou's scent hung heavily about the ruins, the village having apparently moved a good distance away after most of it burned to the ground in a fire. A few unintelligent animals had taken up residence in the place that was already being reclaimed by the forest, but neither Hiko nor Kenshin paid them any mind, the latter following his nose to where the half-demon was pinned against a tree by an arrow. He was in an enchanted sleep, not dead, but he might as well have been; he could not see, hear, smell the world around him, neither did he respond to any outside stimulus.

The collage youkai examined the arrow pinning him to the tree while Seijuurou watched for any attempts the holy energy may have made to hurt his demon friend; Kenshin determined that he probably could pull it out, but not without losing an arm to the holy energy, which would do no one any good. "Our arms are our life," Hiko told him bluntly, tightly gripping the wrist of the hand Kenshin had extended to free InuYasha, "We lose one and we lose our livelihood; InuYasha would not want you to sacrifice your ability to defend yourself just for him."

The redhead bit his lip and reluctantly conceded the point to the human. "The miko who did this to him, there is a good chance that she lives in the village that moved about a mile away; do you think we could convince her to remove the spell?"

"It's possible. There's no harm in trying." Hiko turned to go, and Kenshin jumped up, clinging to the human's shoulder; the other hated it when he did that but permitted the contact.

The villagers tried to attack them, of course. Once Seijuurou managed to convince them that Kenshin was not about to go on a rampage and kill them all, they guided the pair to Kaede, the miko Kikyou's younger sister, who told them that her sister had died the day InuYasha was sealed to the tree, as well as about the Shikon no Tama and the powers it gave. "We thought that he would be a good husband for Kikyou-onee-sama if she ever decided to stop being a miko, but he turned on us," Kaede finished up her tale, turning tear filled eyes away from her guests and biting her lips to stop the sobs of sorrow over her sister's death from escaping.

"Kaede-san," Kenshin said gently, "Hiko-san and I have known InuYasha for two hundred years now, and I can safely say that he would not have led you all on like this; something happened that changed his mind, caused him to attack. Unfortunately, with him sealed and no other witnesses to what that event was, we have no way of knowing exactly what caused the change."

"Is this true?" she asked of the other human in the small hut.

"To the best of my knowledge? Absolutely. InuYasha was never one for subtlety. A lot like someone else I know." He pointedly glanced at the youkai sitting next to him, who flailed in indignation.

"Hey! You know as well as I that the vast majority of my powers are not meant for subtlety! And while we're on the subject, what's up with the white cloak, huh? Might help you blend in during the winter, but certainly not now!"

Kaede was unable to stop herself from giggling at the youkai's comical responses to Seijuurou's prods, lightening the mood substantially, and by the time they departed the next morning, the human girl was at least friendly acquaintances with the two swordsmen. In the very least, she was willing to look into having InuYasha at least freed from the tree, though not necessarily the village.

They could work with that.

However, once out of sight of the village, Kenshin froze, instincts screaming that he should run, that something very bad was about to happen, and Seijuurou sensed his reaction to the unseen something, hand dropping to his sword – right before fleshy tentacles flew at them from the trees on either side of the path. Hiko whipped WinterMoon from its sheath and sliced apart the nearest few, the youkai flesh burning on contact with the holy blade, and Kenshin channeled his youki into his claws, opening a Meidou to the underworld when he slashed apart the tentacles heading straight for him.

The appendages retreated momentarily, and an ominous voice said with cliché enthusiasm, "Ah, so you are as powerful as they say. You two will make a nice addition to my collection."

A man emerged from the forest, wearing a dark blue kimono and hakama, his black wavy hair falling nearly to his waist. His blood red eyes immediately let the two know that this was no human – as if the mass of tentacles making up one arm didn't do that already. Both narrowed their eyes, but it was Seijuurou who spoke; "Who are you?" he demanded, sliding into a defensive stance, WinterMoon's blade glowing white with holy energy.

The man smirked. "I don't need to tell you that. You'll know it soon enough." His hand snapped toward Kenshin, and several poison insects buzzed from his sleeve, making straight for the youkai. The redhead opened up another Meidou, consuming the insects in an instant, and leapt away from the demon – only to slide into a spell circle that the creature had set up beforehand.

The youkai sank to his knees as the circle activated, arms wrapped around his upper body, breath leaving him in harsh pants. He lifted his head, watched with blurry vision as Hiko held his own against the demon. He had always been able to sense the swordsman, determine his location relative to his own, but that sense began to dim. 'The circle,' he slurred in his mind, 'It's interfering with the SpillOver Seal…'

Purely internal, a crack like ice splitting in the dead of winter filled their minds. Kenshin felt the connection between them fracture, change so that he was "looking" at Hiko in a broken mirror, distorted and blurred. His youki began to surge the way it had so many years ago, the markings on his face thickening, his sclera turning red.

'Hiko…'

_Kill him…_

_He is your jailer, your 'keeper.' Inu no Taishou didn't want you to use your strength against him to take over the Western Lands. He imprisoned you, dragged you down. Kill him, and be free…_

The voice whispered in his mind, inciting his instincts into rebellion against the swordsman, and finally Kenshin let out a terrible snarl, youki flaring. The circle shattered under the force of his might. He leapt at Seijuurou's back, and the swordsman sensed him coming, dropping below the arc of his strike. His claws scythed through the demon attacking them, killing him instantly – or it would have, had the creature not dissolved into more of the poisonous insects.

"A truly impressive force of will, Kenshin; the control required to be able to conceal your true intent like that while letting your instincts run wild – it boggles the mind!"

"**Don't… address me… so familiarly…"** Kenshin hissed around his pants, fighting to keep himself under control.

"And you, Seijuurou – only a true swordsman could wield WinterMoon with such skill! I look forward to meeting you again…"

"What an ass," Hiko growled, sheathing WinterMoon once all the insects flew away, "I wish he'd given us his name so I could hunt him down and flay him alive."

The full youkai collapsed to all fours. The human was by his side almost immediately, grasping his opposite shoulder to hold him close. "Kenshin," he said gently, "Talk to me. How bad is it?"

"**Get us… back to the castle…"** he gasped, and then passed out.

* * *

The redhead inhaled sharply when he woke. He was in his own room, in the castle. He could hear servants bustling around below, smell the kitchens whipping up – mm, breakfast? The eastern horizon was lit by the faint, pre-dawn glow of the sun.

Kenshin turned his head to look at the door to his room – and beheld Hiko sleeping not five feet away from his futon. The human was slumped against the wall, WinterMoon leaning on his shoulder. There were dark circles under his eyes, and the redhead followed the path of one arm, only to realize that Seijuurou was holding one of his hands in a loose grasp.

His lips parted, eyes widening. 'He stayed by me? He hasn't left? For – for how long?' He smelled himself. 'At least three days, if not longer.'

Kenshin reached out with his free hand and brushed a few raven strands out of the Mitsurugi master's face.

'But… why?'

* * *

AN: Oh, Kenshin… *shakes head* And ermahgerd, I am so sorry! It has been a million bajillion years since I updated this fic! It's not deaad, I swear! Just... on hiatus... for a bit... until further notice... But I will keep writing for it! Updates just won't be frequent! *runs away*

Glossary:

Miko: priestess

Onee-sama: formal, older sister

Shikon no Tama: the Jewel of Four Souls

Youkai: demon

Youki: demonic energy


End file.
